Extensive study into the growth properties of bacteria in recent years has shown that they form complex layers that adhere to surfaces. These complex forms of bacteria are known as biofilms, or sessile bacteria. Biofilms may cause problems in a variety of areas including the bodies of humans and animals, food processing, health care facilities, metal-working shops, dairy farms and other industries.
It is now widely known that bacteria in the form of biofilms are more resistant to antibacterial reagents than planktonic bacteria. Yet testing for the presence of bacteria and the testing of the efficacy of antibiotics against bacteria has traditionally involved testing for planktonic bacteria. Thus, bacterial inhibitory concentration of the antibacterial reagent may be underestimated, with the result that the wrong antibacterial reagent or wrong amount of antibacterial reagent may be used for the treatment of the bacteria.
One type of device for monitoring biofilm buildup is described in the Canadian Journal of Microbiology (1981), volume 27, pages 910 to 917, in which McCoy et al describe the use of a so-called Robbins device which comprises a tube through which water in a recycling circuit can flow. The tube has a plurality of ports in its walls, each being provided with a stud having a biofoulable surface and being capable of being retained in the port in fixed relationship with respect to the tube so that the biofoulable surface forms part of the internal surface of the tube. The studs may be removed from the ports after a desired time interval and the test surfaces by microscopy of the surfaces analyzed for the growth of microorganisms or by removal of the microorganisms from the surfaces and subsequent estimation of the degree of growth. The number of microorganisms can be estimated for instance by physical or chemical means, e.g. by detection of bacterial ATP or by further culturing the microorganisms and analyzing the products.
In another device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,874, biofilm growth in a water carrying conduit is determined by providing plural removable studs in the conduit or in a second conduit parallel to the first. The studs may be removed for analysis of biofilm on the studs. Such devices as the Robbins device, or others using removable studs in a single conduit, result in rather lengthy processing times, and do not provide rapid response times for the testing of several different antibacterial reagents.
In a still further device, described in "Simple Method for Measuring the Antibiotic Concentration Required to Kill Adherent Bacteria", Miyake et al, Chemotherapy 1992; 38, 286-290, staphylococcus aureus cells adhered to the bottom of a 96 well plastic tissue culture plate were treated with serially diluted antibiotic solutions, and viability of the cells was judged by their growth after a further 24 hours incubation. This method has the disadvantage of inconsistent colonization of sessile bacteria and settling of planktonic bacteria.
The device described in this patent document allows for an efficient and automated biofilm killing assay that has particular use with the 96 well platform common to many diagnostic assay systems.